The Decelerator

The Decelerator

Information Services

The Decelerator is a support service for civil society organisations offering information and tools for better endings.

About us

The Decelerator is a support service for civil society organisations. We offer information, tools and hands-on support for better endings. We support organisations and individuals to anticipate and design closures, mergers, CEO transitions, programming ends, and all sorts of endings as just part of the everyday life of organisations and inevitable cycles of change in civil society. It is our ambition to be around for 10 years. During this time we hope to shift mindsets and money so that individuals, organisations, sectors and movements consider possible endings as regularly and readily as growth in their ambitious, courageous pursuit of impact for the people and communities they serve. We exist because endings are inevitable, but bad endings don’t have to be.

Industry
Information Services
Company size
2-10 employees
Type
Nonprofit
Founded
2023

Employees at The Decelerator

Updates

  • The Decelerator reposted this

    View profile for Max St John, graphic

    Navigate conflict, understand your needs, find an easier path at home and work.

    One of the central pillars of what we do at The Decelerator is our closures hotline. Our team of Hotline Navigators offer support to anyone in a civil society organisation who feels that a closure might be on the horizon (or imminent) and needs help to understand their options. Often the biggest benefits it offers is for people to feel like they're not alone - to feel that they are seen. Organisational closures are not simply a logistical or administrative issue, they are present emotional, psychological and relational challenges too. Ultimately, in the middle of all the difficulty are individual human beings trying their best to deal with very tricky situations - and the feedback I've heard from people that have made use of the service leads me to believe that what we offer is not only unique but incredibly valuable. In recent months demand for our service has spiked by 300%. There are many conclusions that can be drawn from this and it's likely that there are a multiplicity of factors at play. The simple outcome is that as a funded, charitable operation we need to put the Hotline on pause for a short while. My colleagues have written a short piece explaining all of this in more detail and provide some signposting to additional support, if you're looking to navigate a closure of your own. #closure #civilsociety #endings

    Hold The Line: The Decelerator Hotline Is Taking A Pause Until December 2024

    Hold The Line: The Decelerator Hotline Is Taking A Pause Until December 2024

    deceleratoruk.substack.com

  • The Decelerator reposted this

    View profile for Iona Lawrence, graphic

    Co-Founder at The Decelerator

    📢 Hold The Line: The Decelerator Hotline Is Temporarily Closed Until December 2024 📢 Over recent months, The Decelerator Hotline has seen an unprecedented surge in demand—a 300% increase in requests between July and October 2024 alone. Unfortunately, this has quickly exhausted our pilot resources, and we are unable to accommodate new requests until at least December 2024. Here's a few things you (or people you know) might want / need to know: 🔹 Current Status: Effective immediately, the hotline is closed for new calls until at least December 2024. We will, however, continue to handle a limited number of referrals from our funding partners. 🔹 Why the Pause? Demand for support has outstripped our budget. We think there are lots of reasons for this, but it's too early to draw single or strong conclusions. What we do know is that we are committed to meeting this demand sustainably, and require additional funding and process updates to do so. 🔹 Looking Ahead: In the coming weeks, we’ll focus on securing further funding and refining our hotline process. An update on next steps will be provided by 25th November 2024. 🔹 For Immediate Support: 1️⃣ Self-Serve Resources: Visit our website or read our latest substack to access tools that can support self-reflective practice and guide internal discussions. 2️⃣ Additional Support Options: Reach out to infrastructure organisations, funders, or trusted peers who may offer timely advice and resources. ❓ What’s Next for The Decelerator? ❓ Those familiar with The Decelerator know our mission isn’t to create a single hotline to serve all of civil society. Instead, our aim is to catalyse “deceleration” capacity across the systems we all operate within—whether in infrastructure organisations, funding bodies, or the daily practices of the organisations we love and serve. If you find yourself frustrated or concerned by our temporary closure, and your organisation could address this need for deceleration through its own helpdesk, hotline, or guidance services, we would be keen to hear from you. We offer training, communities of practice and other kinds of knowledge sharing so that our work and learnings can inspire and inform the work of others. 🙏 Most of all, thank you for being on this deceleration journey with us - as a friend, colleague or comrade. We will provide an update on the hotline service by 25th November 2025. 🙏 https://lnkd.in/eczibMa2

    Hold The Line: The Decelerator Hotline Is Taking A Pause Until December 2024

    Hold The Line: The Decelerator Hotline Is Taking A Pause Until December 2024

    deceleratoruk.substack.com

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    ❓ 💥 We're looking for feedback and your experience of The Decelerator's impact to date. 💥❓ So if you've engaged with The Decelerator—whether at an event, through a call to The Decelerator Hotline, by downloading one of our toolkits, or by borrowing language and ideas from our Substack newsletter—we’d love to hear about the impact it’s had on you, your organisation, community, or sector. Share your thoughts through our feedback form or connect directly with our latest recruit Sieske Valk and leave her a voice note on WhatsApp at 07930 547164. Your input will play a key role in guiding our future. https://lnkd.in/eqSvFmEH (Keen to find out more about Sieske Valk and her work? Check out her first substack for us here: https://lnkd.in/eG83WMT5)

    The Long View: Feedback

    The Long View: Feedback

    docs.google.com

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    We're pleased to announce that Sieske Valk joined The Decelerator team this month as our new Operations and Project Manager 🎉 Sieske brings with her experience being a former vet nurse, social researcher, and founder of a pet hospice - the latter she intentionally stepped away from earlier this year in an “ending” that was impact-driven and thoughtful. One of Sieske's first tasks is to gather feedback from our pilot phase to shape our next five years. So if you’ve engaged with The Decelerator—through an event, toolkit, or even a Decelerator Hotline chat—we’d love to know what impact it’s had on you, your organisation, community or sector. Share your thoughts in our feedback form or reach out to Sieske directly via WhatsApp at 07930547164. https://lnkd.in/eqSvFmEH

    The Long View: Feedback

    The Long View: Feedback

    docs.google.com

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    Next Tuesday 1st October The Decelerator is hosting an in-person event for funders and other strategic stakeholders from the children and youth sector with speakers from 2 recently closed organisations to provide a space for candid reflection and learning. The organisations had different purposes and different journeys to their closure but considered together reveal unique insights into the state of children and youth organisations, and the need for attention to endings. This will be a 'Chatham House rules' event where words like 'blame' will be left at the door, and instead we will explore what can be learnt from these closures and consider how to ensure these insights inform the future. More information and sign up form is here: https://lnkd.in/eNsvw6sp

    Learning From Organisational Closures In The Children And Youth Sector: A Chatham House Event for Funders and Strategic Stakeholders

    Learning From Organisational Closures In The Children And Youth Sector: A Chatham House Event for Funders and Strategic Stakeholders

    docs.google.com

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    At The Decelerator, we hear these statements at least once a week…but not (yet) in the same rooms: 🤲 Charity Leader: "We’re considering closure but don’t want to tell our funders yet." 💰 Funder: "Too often, we find out about closures too late to help with a better ending or a good transition." Our latest substack shares a few ideas for how people and organisations on both sides of the funding dance might act today for better outcomes tomorrow. https://lnkd.in/enQAMDTh

    It takes two to tango: How funders and organisations can work together to unlock better endings

    It takes two to tango: How funders and organisations can work together to unlock better endings

    deceleratoruk.substack.com

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    We're thrilled that Sieske Valk will be joining as our new Operations and Project Manager in October 2024. Sieske brings some brilliant experience to The Decelerator, including her leadership of a social business focused on end-of-life care for animals. She recently decided it was time to wind down the business and she's joining us fresh from that experience. We're excited to learn from her and see where this journey takes us. (Sieske and Iona Lawrence will be working from our office in Exeter — if you're local, we’d love to have a cuppa and maybe even host co-working days.)

  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    🔬 🚧 Learning From Organisational Closures In The Children And Youth Sector: A Chatham House Event for Funders and Strategic Stakeholders on 1st October 🔬 🚧 The children and youth sector (much like civil society more broadly) has seen a number of significant organisational closures over the past year - some planned, others unexpected. Amidst mounting financial, social, and political pressures, this critical part of the nonprofit lifecycle is often overlooked. On 1st October The Decelerator will be hosting a Chatham House event to provide funding organisations and other strategic sector stakeholders with an opportunity for candid and compassionate reflection and learning on two recent organisational closures. These are organisations which had different missions, and they closed in very different ways in very different circumstances. But considered together, we believe they reveal useful insights on these questions: ❓ What does these closures reveal about the state of children / youth organisations and their infrastructure groups and the significant pressures at this time?  ❓ What do these closures show about what patterns are emerging in charity closures?  ❓ What can funders do or consider in order to mitigate the impact of the patterns these closures point to? ❓ What is the role of funders when organisations reach the point of potential closure? This event will not seek to attribute blame. Nor will it surface easy or simple answers to these very complicated questions. And it will be important to remember that there will be many experiences and perspectives who won't be represented in the room. It's simply a space for curiosity, reflectiveness, compassion and learning. Together we will explore the lessons that might be learnt from these closures and consider how to ensure these insights inform the future. Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024  Time: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM  Location: In person, central London Attendees: If you are a funder that funds the children and youth sectors, or a strategic stakeholder (eg. regulator, infrastructure body etc)* What to bring: an open, curious mind. How to sign up - link in comments! *We have limited availability and will allocate places based on 'first come first served' and to ensure a diverse range of organisations are represented in the room. (The Decelerator is exploring ways this sort of event might be organised / held for wider audiences, sign up to our substack newsletter to keep in the loop on our work and events - link in comments).

    • No alternative text description for this image
  • View organization page for The Decelerator, graphic

    531 followers

    ☎️ Reminder: The Decelerator Hotline offers free help with organisational endings ☎️ The Decelerator Hotline offers a free, confidential and non-judgemental space with a trained Deceleration Navigator - including Iona Lawrence, Josephine Knowles & Linda Craig. With your Navigator’s support, you will have an opportunity to step back and consider an ending you might be considering, planning or in the midst of - closures, mergers, succession plan, project wind downs and all sorts of endings. 📞 You might want support to think through some of the complicated processes involved in endings that many people feel tell us they have not been trained in or experienced before. 📞 You might want some space to process some mixed emotions you have which are very common with endings including uncertainty, anticipation, loneliness, relief, worry and hope. 📞 You might want to say something out loud for the first time or the 100th time. Most people finish a call feeling confident about their options, and equipped with some next steps. ✨ And we now have more capacity than ever before! Thanks to some brilliant service design work from Lily Piachaud, Josephine Knowles and The Decelerator team, we’re ready to support more organisations to navigate endings equipped with solid plans, strategic legacy ideas and plenty of care and compassion. Don’t hesitate to reach out or pass on our details to your networks. We’re here to help you, whatever stage you’re at. https://lnkd.in/e7PhEMrk 

    Appointments 2 — The Decelerator

    Appointments 2 — The Decelerator

    decelerator.org.uk

Similar pages